‘Wasn’t Really Our Choice’: House of the Dragon EP on Season 2’s Shorter Episode Count
The shorter episode count for House of the Dragon Season 2 is one of the changes fans should expect from the next installment of the HBO drama.
House of the Dragon executive producer and writer Sara Hess addressed one of the hit fantasy drama’s major changes in Season 2. Before working on the Game of Thrones spinoff, Hess was also a part of the creative teams for hit shows like House and Orange Is the New Black.
Despite securing an early renewal right after its series premiere last August 2022, House of the Dragon’s episode count for Season 2 was surprisingly cut down to eight episodes. During a recent interview with EW, Hess was asked to explain the reason behind Season 2’s reduced episode count. Even though she declined to give an explanation about the said topic, Hess did confirm that “it wasn’t really our [their] choice.” Compared to Game of Thrones, the original series’ first six seasons were all given a 10-episode run, while Seasons 7-8 were shortened to 7 and 6 episodes, respectively. House of the Dragon 2’s shorter episode count may potentially mean that HBO isn’t anticipating the prequel to last as long as the original, especially when they’re still currently developing more Game of Thrones spinoffs.
In addition, Hess and showrunner Ryan Condal opened up about last year’s Hollywood strikes, which was one of the production setbacks they faced while filming House of the Dragon Season 2. “It was rough. It felt real s–ty, I’m not going to lie,” Hess recalled. “We talked to the WGA and, ultimately, they understood that if we left the set, they were going to make it without us. I don’t think the WGA loved it, but they were okay with us being there in a producing capacity.” Since the show was being made through Equity, the cast and crew who are part of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA guilds were allowed to continue shooting. “We were prepared for it,” Condal added. “The writing really was done. The writing is always done on the show because it has to be. You cannot prep a show that is this complex [otherwise].”
House of the Dragon Season 2 Expands With New Characters
House of the Dragon hails from creators and executive producers Condal and George R.R. Martin. The prequel is based on the latter’s Fire & Blood novel. As the long-awaited Targaryen civil war begins, fans will be introduced to a number of new characters, including Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers, Simon Russell Beale as Ser Simon Strong, Tom Taylor as Lord Cregan Stark, Abubakar Salim as Alyn of Hull, Freddie Fox as Ser Gwayne Hightower, Clinton Liberty as Addam of Hull, Jamie Kenna as Ser Alfred Broome, Kieran Bew as Hugh, Tom Bennett as Ulf, and Vincent Regan as Ser Rickard Thorne.
In a previous interview, Rankin teased her character’s “very wild, but contained” storyline. “She’s so f***ing cool. I want to really ground her and find her humanity—I always try to find my way into that, but she has a lot of power too,” Rankin said. “Just really exciting. I don’t think we’ve seen half of it yet, so that will be fun.” The new cast members for House of the Dragon Season 2 are officially joining returning stars Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra, Matt Smith as Daemon, Eve Best as Rhaenys, Olivia Cooke as Alicent, Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower, Ewan Mitchell as Prince Aemond, Tom Glynn-Carney as Prince Aegon II, and more.
